back to article Mars' 'little green men' buried alive by merciless meteorites – new theory

Scientists hoping to find signs of Martian life on the surface of the Red Planet may not be in luck. Any evidence of life could have been destroyed in a meteor impact, according to research published in Scientific Reports, an online open access scientific mega journal published by the Nature Publishing Group. Samples analyzed …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Instead of digging around trying to find the bodies

    couldn't we just look for the headstones? Much easier to spot, if you ask me.

  2. Tom 7

    "to find the specific conditions needed for organic matter to survive blasts"

    I think that might be a very small needle in a very bug haystack, and the haystack is on fire and hot enough to burn the needle.

    We've got the perseids peaking this week. They come in at 37 miles a second. When something hits the ground near that speed the shock breaks quartz crystals - organic compounds dont stand a chance!

    1. MyffyW Silver badge

      Re: "to find the specific conditions needed for organic matter to survive blasts"

      I tried a similar experiment with 4 piston-cylinders and long chain hydrocarbons this morning. It was mostly converted to water and oxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, but it did propel me to about 60 miles per hour.

  3. MrDamage Silver badge

    aromatic hydrocarbon dominated matter

    I would have thought it's source would have been from all the Martians looking up at the sky, and collectively shitting themselves as they witnessed the harbinger of their demise.

    1. Rich 11

      Re: aromatic hydrocarbon dominated matter

      We're just lucky that this happened before they slowly and surely drew their plans against us.

  4. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    "To help narrow the search for Martian life further, the researchers hope to continue testing out meteorite collisions over a broader range of pressures and temperatures to find the specific conditions needed for organic matter to survive blasts."

    Okay, who else thought "Mythbusters" when reading this?

    1. Alistair
      Coat

      @atcsnwt

      Don't you mean marthbuthterth?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    Just look for the styrofoam packaging...

    Where the aliens threw their fast food out the saucer window.

    Between the Styrofoam, additives, and preservatives something is bound to have lasted a few billion years

    1. Chozo

      Re: Just look for the styrofoam packaging...

      That's a pretty good idea. Whilst finding lichen or some slime mould on Mars would be incredible it's not something that many people are going to be exited about. On the other hand evidence of a technologically advanced civilisation on Mars would re-ignite the passion for the conquest of space.

      1. Rich 11

        Re: Just look for the styrofoam packaging...

        Styrofoam waste may be a sign of a technologically advanced civilisation, but it's not proof positive of a culturally advanced one.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Just look for the styrofoam packaging...

          Look at the reality TV and afternoon talk shows on right now, and tell me that we're "culturally advanced"?

    2. Arachnoid
      Mushroom

      Re: Just look for the styrofoam packaging...

      Nah Shopping and Bin bags, man those things are near indestructable and last for thousands of years,They will be a lasting monument to mans achievements when we no longer reside on this planet and begin poluting another.

  6. G R Goslin

    Think me cynical

    But I'm sure that quite large areas of the Earth's land form would not pass the same test for organic life, too.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Terminator

    maybe there never was life on Mars ...

    ... ever.

    Think of the possibilities if we finally admitted to ourselves that, and collectively moved on.

    We could stop spending stupid amounts of money on sending toy trucks to Mars, in search for life that never existed. And then, we could spend that money on something more useful, here on Earth.

    1. James Loughner
      Facepalm

      Re: maybe there never was life on Mars ...

      You do realize they don't shoot money into space they do spend it here. And each unit of money adds 7X it's value to the over all economy. Money is funny stuff it is not a conserved material.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Mushroom

        Re: maybe there never was life on Mars ...

        > And each unit of money adds 7X it's value to the over all economy.

        Really. Can you provide a reference for that figure - 7X?

        It's called a economic multipier and it's closer to somewhere between 1.5 times and 2.5 times money spent. And unlike you, I have a reference for my numbers:

        San Francisco Fed Economic Multiplier

        But hey, don't let me ruin your fantasy.

        Here's the thing: what you're saying would be true if the money were spent on something usable here on Earth. As in re-building bridges, roads, tunnels, railroad tracks, etc. Or research for new pharmaceutical drugs. These are all revenue generators.

        But shooting toy trucks into space isn't a revenue generator. It keeps some people employed, and that's about it.

        As a jobs program, Life On Mars is great. I have nothing against it. Just don't call it science.

        Every single time the fundamental premise of the Life On Mars program has been proven wrong, or non-existent, the only explanation for failure its proponents can come up with are excuses.

        In any other scientific field that isn't driven so much by PR, the media and tne selling of fantasies to the gullible, the Life On Mars hypothesis would have been abandoned many years ago.

    2. Paul Crawford Silver badge

      Re: maybe there never was life on Mars ...

      "spend that money on something more useful, here on Earth."

      What, you mean like Facebook valued at $245 billion instead of the NASA budget of $18 billion?

      (2015 figures)

    3. SundogUK Silver badge

      Re: maybe there never was life on Mars ...

      "maybe there never was life on Mars ... "

      I'm betting you're right about this but the rest of your post is arse.

    4. Pascal Monett Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: spend that money on something more useful, here on Earth

      Yeah right ! And if we were meant to fly, God would have given us wings. Just make sure your cave has a proper Mammoth-skin covering at the entrance and you'll be fine.

      Carry on and stay away from fire ! It hurts.

    5. 1Rafayal

      Re: maybe there never was life on Mars ...

      "...We could stop spending stupid amounts of money on sending toy trucks to Mars, in search for life that never existed. And then, we could spend that money on something more useful, here on Earth..."

      Just did a massive poo

    6. Chris 239

      Re: maybe there never was life on Mars ...

      "And then, we could spend that money on something more useful, here on Earth"

      Yeah, great and we could going on doing that until an asteroid impact extinction event wipes out civilisation, or lack of space or resouces force our children into canabalism or global war.

      Or we invest in the future of our species.

      Thankfully not your choice.

  8. Howard Hanek
    Headmaster

    A Simple Analogy

    In Galactic terms think of it as a child who's been dropped on his head one too many times.

  9. Mikel

    When we are living there

    Digging down to the rich biome beneath the desert will be required for a number of human habitation reasons. We will find life. Unfortunately by then it will be difficult to tell if we brought it with us.

  10. jonathan1

    This is what the lizard people want you to believe...nothing to see here move along...

  11. Version 1.0 Silver badge

    Depends what you call "life"

    Given the way little molecules like to get together and party it seems unlikely to me that in 4.5 billion years "life" is some form did not exist on mars given what we believe the history of the planet to have been. Sure, it looks pretty grim up there now but two billion years ago there's every chance that a few bacteria were having a bit of a chat.

    1. Tom 7

      Re: Depends what you call "life"

      One of the fascinating things about life is we still dont know how it started here. We've got a vague idea what Luca was like - not capable of generating its own energy and probably surviving of energy produce by hydrothermal vents at well above 100C. On earth it seems to have been a one off event around 3.8 billion years ago. Mars is a lot smaller and apart from being round is not geologically very close to earth.

      We're very lucky to be here, I'd be really really happy to find some life on Mars but I'm expecting to win the lottery first and I dont do it.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

  12. Roger Kynaston
    Coat

    Mars Attacks?

    NC

  13. Stevey

    Invasion

    Bombarded by meteorites, and then the magnetic core of the planet extracted.. I think we know who the real culprits were

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dalek_Invasion_of_Earth

  14. Chris G

    I can believe that meteorites can destroy the evidencefor life but not that it has destroyed the evidence on every square metre of the planet. Though I suppose it could have buried it over a ouple of billion years.

    "Large areas of the Earth may not pass the testfor organic life"

    Ah, you mean Shoreditch!

  15. jack d

    Life on Mars

    Ever tried to download a high resolution Mars panorama pictures from NASA Curiosity Rover site? If you examine them closely you always find a number of 'things' with symmetrical shapes, often looking like pieces of machinery destroyed. Some time ago, people who said the Earth was round and revolved around the Sun were ridiculed and burned at the stake. Today those that dare imagine the existence of other civilisations in our Solar system or galaxy are thought of as enemies of the status quo - same as in the middle ages.

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